Monthly Archives: September 2015

An eventful week is finished. The scooter was nearly useless as the front tire developed a crack, then more of them. That resulted in a frantic search for the means to move from place to place. With the rental of another scooter and the hope of getting a new wheel it’s possible things may get back to what was in a week or so as far as fundamental transportation goes these days. It is not impossible to buy another scooter, but the delivery of the same kind would take a week.

Friend came to the rescue by using part of his Saturday to go pick up the rental. Lunch lady was the immediate rescue when she taped together the tire enough to hold until Friend could get to the apartment. The rental is not as compact and for a couple of important things (like using the bathroom) there is need to move from rental to the old scooter and hope the tire doesn’t give out completely before a replacement wheel can be bought somehow. (Local parts shops were closed when tried.)

It was food truck week, and it went fast. Aide services also went surprisingly well. Given the scooter situation, it made it possible to avoid a completely collapsing existence. Such things as Saturday’s medication got missed when due, so there is a new time frame for medication. (That can be worked back to the same hour by delaying it again a couple of times.) It was just fortunate there was enough cash in hand to go rent a temporary scooter until things could be sorted out.

The aide essentially walked off the job this past week, after some nasty words about ordering her around. Telling her what to do now is ordering her around. Certainly no good can come of it. Some words were exchanged with building management as well as there’s one there that’s not paying much attention to what is being said. Apparently there has been sewage seeping in the place (not a lot) from another apartment. Maintenance still hasn’t finished fixing things.

Friend did a lot of back up on Wednesday covering some of the aide’s work. A little did get done in regard to the computer mess. It’s assumed that if it is ever all arranged something will develop to upset the arrangement (that’s realistic). At least there’s food in the place, a few clean clothes to wear, some cash in hand, a fairly good doctor and for free internet connection presently. The lunches came just fine. It’s been Avon week, and that was especially neat and quick.

The dealing about maintenance, making up for the aide service that wasn’t done by friend and the normal stuff made the past week exhaustive. The week ahead promises more of the same as maintenance doesn’t seem to be done and aide service is up in the air. There might be other approaches to life, but a find has been just as elusive (if not more so). The “bright side” is that some other people may have similar problems. That is not a good thing, but not being alone is encouraging.

September of course means it is time to think of things like heat. The thermostat is the kind without numbers (set at it feels comfortable), so a guess was figured out by looking at thermostat pictures online, and the unit was poked on, and a moment later smoke alarm problem. It went off. Shut off of the heat stopped the alarm. Maintenance call got nothing for the (allotted) hour; a second call was made and an emergency service visit did materialize, with a new smoke alarm.

And, that little deal wasn’t the only maintenance concern of the past week. It seems a leaky pipe from the kitchen in the apartment right above has sloshed dirty water in a corner of the bedroom near the bath. Given the stains on the rug, the bugs and mice that may now be gone, unpainted window frames, the move in disarray that still exists, etc., it may be some years before the place is livable, especially given the aide service. The new aide said she would be gone soon enough.

On the bright side friend has managed to be extra helpful in this past week and a new convenient food has been found with the food truck. On such things hope springs eternal as most assuredly moving somewhere else is out of the question, even should a new place be certainly something better and such is anything but sure. Looking for a place that will get better aide-type service has come up with nothing good. The doctor visit netted a new medicine too inconvenient to use.

Wednesday was nearly incredible. A kind of loud “Pow” (four actually, but they came one after another) made for startled 4:00 a.m. awakening. There was no indication of a cause; it might even have been part of the last dream. That caused an emergency dash to the bathroom that didn’t go well (which is not rare). The rest of the day was just as bad. There’s no room here for all the varied inconveniences that came during the day, but the worst one briefly was:

Some time around 7:00 p.m. the smoke alarm began to beep (at spaced intervals). Soon enough of course, it was determined that there was no fire. There was, naturally, no staying in the place for any appreciable length of time with that noise every thirty seconds or so and, of course, maintenance staff isn’t around then. The call to the emergency service number gets a recording for call back. After some confusion on the matter, the fire department was called.

The week’s deliveries were lunches and Avon, both okay. The aide tried, but bought the wrong thing twice; and, yesterday the revelation was friend overlooked three important things. The doctor visited on Friday, It did not go well. As today was a holiday, people in the building created an event (held yesterday). As friend may be overloaded with things needing doing, a neighbor was asked to buy something when she was on the go. She never found any of it.